Training in Montana

8 miles on the Treddy this morning at my house. Watched some stupid movie about a $2 million reward for the first person to Silver City, NM. Had lots of great actors in it, but very cheesy.

Warmed up at 6 mph 2% incline for 1/2 mile, then 6.5 mph and 1% incline for 1 1/2 miles (kept incline same for the remainder). 7 mph for miles 3-4; 7.5 mph for 5-6; 8 mph for 7-8. Lots of sweat.

This is the start of week 7 marathon training and this harder schedule is going to be interesting. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

4 TM miles at home. Below zero windchill outside convinced me to stay inside. Good run. Progression from 6 mph warmup to 6.5 for a bit, then 7.0, ending at 7.5 mph.

5 X hill today. Great workout. Ran just over 2 miles to get to my workout hill, then ran up as fast as I could without dying, walked then jogged back down the hill, and repeated. It was a tough one and I 'm wondering how I'll work up to 7 X hill, but as hill work is only every 3 weeks I think I'll get there.

30F with a 20 mph wind made the wind chill in the teens, but it was actually nice after huffing and puffing up the hill.

Rest day. Love my rest days.

1 warmup mile starting at 6 mph and 2% for 1/2 mile, then 6.5 for a bit then 7.0 until 1 mile. Dropped incline to 1% and set at 8.1 mph for the marathon pace run. Set it and forget it.

After my hill workout on Wednesday my legs were tired and consequently I was tired. Yesterday I was exhausted at the end of the day even though I slept in and didn't exercise. Last night I got to sleep at 10:30 which would give me 7 hours and that's what I need. Normally I sleep really well and roll over to look at the clock within an hour before the alarm. Last night I rolled over, looked at the alarm and it was 12:45 am. What the???? Way too early. I must've rolled over and looked at the clock 5-6 times more, each 45 minutes, then finally it was time and I got out of bed a few minutes before 5:30. Oddly enough I felt rested and ready to go. Hit the home treadmill by 5:50 which gave me just enough time to be done when the family wakes up at 7.

So I'm feeling rested and running along at marathon pace and I'm wondering when this will end. My legs felt fine, but this is a hard enough effort for me to not enjoy it in the beginning miles. I looked at the saved DVR movies and turned on the recent Clash of the Titans. Pretty good flick with enough action to take my mind off fast miles. For me, when I'm on the treadmill I really look forward to the 1/2 way point. Once I get to 1/2 way then the rest seems to cruise along. The same was true today. I made it through the hour of fast running and my legs weren't the worse for wear and neither was my body. I sweated profusely but other than that no ill effects. Eggscellent.

16 total miles today. Did 12.2 outside on 5-6" of fresh snow. In lots of spots it felt like running on sand. 14F for the high today, bright sun, no clouds, no wind. It wasn't too bad. Brought hand warmers for the gloves and that was a really good idea. Wore ice spikes and that helped a little bit but not much. I think it affected my gait a bit as my feet and toes felt weird afterwards. Needed my neck gaiter in a big way and kept it on my chin most of the run but a few times in the last few miles my nose needed some heat so I took off the sunglasses and pulled up the gaiter to my nose and breathed through it. Heated up the nose quickly.

Got home and quickly changed into shorts and a singlet, different shoes, and did the last bit on the treadmill at 1% incline. Most of it at 7 mph, but last mile did 8.3 (7:15 mph). That was hard but only because it was uncomfortable, not because my legs were tired. That's a good sign. I need to run more miles in that uncomfortable 7:15-25 zone so that I get used to it.

AP for the long run was 8:42. I had lots of problems with my music so that slowed me by a few minutes. Also, the snow slowed the pace a bit but I think it ultimately gave me a better workout than I would have had on normal roads.